


Ghosts of Grimmauld

by Duncecapdummy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Domestic, Grimmauld Place, M/M, Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11496687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duncecapdummy/pseuds/Duncecapdummy
Summary: Sirius' childhood home hates him about as much as he hates it.





	Ghosts of Grimmauld

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cross_d_a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cross_d_a/gifts).



It's well known among the Order, especially those close with Sirius, that Sirius hates his childhood home. If they had somewhere better for meetings they'd jump at the chance to move. There's nowhere better than Grimmauld Place, though. Nowhere more hidden and secret. So Sirius has little choice but to live in the house that stirs so many bad memories. Despite his mother’s portrait screaming obscenities at him whenever Sirius walks by, the Order knows little about just how much the house hates him. 

The same way armor and stairwells are enchanted at Hogwarts, Grimmauld Place is full of little tricks. Except the more sentient parts are particularly nasty, and they make sure Sirius knows he's not wanted here. Suits of armor trip him when he walks by, stairs shift down when he tries to step on them. The words “blood traitor” and “no son of mine” echo through the walls. He's stuck in this house for months alone until Molly begins to visit, before Remus moves in down the hall, before the Order really starts back up again. Sirius is tortured not only by the memories the place conjures but by his dead relatives’ dusty decor as well. 

It only gets worse when someone else comes to stay. Doesn't matter who. The visits from Order members go largely unaffected, but those who stay longer get a taste of what the Black family legacy really feels like. 

Molly arrives for a meeting early because she's waiting for Arthur after work. She has to let herself in because Sirius is asleep. At first she thinks he's in a depressed funk, and he kind of is but that's not why he's sleeping at 2:00pm. It's because the ghoul who roams the house won't shut up at night. It's because the house elf makes a point to bang on the walls and tables when he's working. It's because the picture frames in the hall outside his room whisper nasty things when he's nearby. 

He's got bags under his eyes again. He looks okay otherwise, finally gaining a bit of weight, but it's clear this house is taking its toll. Molly goes into Mother Mode. Together they dust, mop, reorganize. They tear down moth-eaten curtains and scare away the smaller pests that have been squatting in closets and cupboards. They open windows, make the beds, find an air freshener for Merlin’s sake. It's not perfect. The ghost still wails. The pictures still whisper. But it's hard to hear them from the attic. 

He doesn't tell her about the stairs. The house doesn't try to trick her, though, so she never finds out. 

Remus does. The house hates Remus about as much as it hates Sirius. The first time he walks down a hall alone he ends up getting tripped by a suit of armor and tangled in a semi-sentient rug. When Sirius doesn't respond to his calls for help he takes matters into his own hands. The armor is disassembled. The rug is rolled, bound. They're thrown in the attic like the rest of the murderous heirlooms. When he goes downstairs he almost falls because a step disappears from under him. This time he is angry. He yells at Sirius, not because it's Sirius’ fault but because he hasn't done anything about it. He hasn't fixed it, and the only reason Remus can think of is because Sirius must want the house to hate him. 

It must feel great, doesn't it? To know your family still hates you after they're all dead. What do you think this is? Punishment? Are you being tortured by the house or by yourself? When will you start acting like you want to be here with us? With me?

He feels bad after yelling but he doesn't apologize. His words are harsh, but sorely needed. Together they charm the stairs into compliance. They fix all the broken spells around the house and see to the more violent portraits. It’s odd, seeing still and silent pictures, but it’s better than the alternative.

Sirius still hates his room. Cramped and filled with more memories than he can handle, it's one of the only rooms that is still habitable. A manic group of pixies has taken over the south guest room, and something eerily close to a lethifold lurks beneath the blue bedroom’s bed. He can’t bring himself to stay in his parents' or his brother's. Remus enchants Sirius’ ceiling to reflect the sky, like at Hogwarts. It's a small comfort, but it reminds Sirius of the only place he ever felt was really home. 

(Remus's spell isn't great, though, and when it rains outside, it rains in Sirius' room too. They spend a very wet evening fixing it together.)

After all the work is done, Sirius still feels like he doesn't belong in this house. More and more members of the Order come and go. A few stay. Molly has finally deemed the house safe enough for her children. Harry arrives, and Sirius finds solace in their shared anger. His family may be haunting him, but his new one is here, too. He braves through it all. 

He doesn't let anyone take down the tapestry. He sees it every morning when he walks down to the kitchen, tucked into the small drawing room. His mother glares at him, his father turns away, his brother...

But it's all he has left. The burned hole where he once was pictured reflects how he’s felt since Azkaban, and he tells himself he keeps the tapestry to remind himself that once they had been close. Once, they were a family. (To say nothing of the permanent sticking charm he can’t undo.) 

He keeps the ghoul, even though he doesn't want to. It screams at people when they come into the house. It steals the fruit that Molly brings to the house. It's another Peeves, but on the whole just as harmless. It makes him feel less alone in this mansion of horrors.

Remus stays over more nights than not now. He claims he's too tired to travel, even though he just apparates. He chooses a bedroom (Regulus', but Sirius says nothing) and sleeps. 

Most mornings Sirius is woken by the ghoul screaming, or whatever's still in the floorboards lifting the end of his bed. The remaining moving photos and paintings sneer, the more loquacious ones having been seen to with a silencing charm. It’s never a good morning, but at least he doesn't trip anymore. 

There's a real breakfast waiting when Sirius gets downstairs, complete with coffee and scones. Remus is busy making eggs and toast at the stove, and when Sirius tries to come help he gets silently shooed by a levitating spatula. He sits, pours coffee, and watches his only friend (that's not true, a voice in the back of his head says, that's not fair) care for Sirius in a way he's no longer able to himself. It's a warm realization. 

Remus is smiling when he turns around.


End file.
